The following blog post will help you pay off high credit card balances using the snowball method, simultaneously improving your credit score.
Some sides notes:
- We recently launched the Golden Financial Services Debt Snowball Calculator Tool, and this tool works perfectly in tandem with our new Budget Calculator. You will need both of these tools to use the snowball method.
- Unless of course, you can’t afford the snowball route, in that case, you could explore credit card relief programs.
- You may also want to check out the 10 Best Ways to Quickly Clear Credit Card Balances in 2022.
What is the debt snowball method to pay off credit cards?
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The concept of snowball payments is nothing new. In fact, there is a Wikipedia page covering the general concept, and blogs from NerdWallet and Dave Ramsey cover the topic pretty well.
Put all of your available monthly cash flow towards paying off your smallest debt while paying minimum payments on the rest. After the smallest debt is paid and you no longer have a payment towards it, that extra money will go towards paying off the next smallest debt in line.
One by one each debt gets paid in full, your available cash continues to grow and gets funneled towards paying off the next debt in line. Momentum will carry you to the finish line. Your available cash continues to grow in size. As a result, you’re able to pay more towards clearing the next smallest debt on the list.
When Debt is Getting Out of Control
There are some tried and true concepts to keep in mind when it comes to the budget vs debt balance.
For example, your monthly rent should never exceed more than 50 percent of your monthly income. This is because even though it seems like the 1-to-1 ratio of debt to income seems more than safe, you haven’t yet paid all utility bills, bought groceries, filled up your gas tank multiple times, or gone out to dinner or the movies with friends.
Repeatedly over-extending yourself for these types of activities, due to a higher-than-comfortable proportion of income going to rent, can lead to a situation where you will have to pare down unnecessary amenities when you wouldn’t normally have to. Keep in mind; sometimes car payments can be just as problematic as rent in this scenario.
If you just skimmed over the above paragraph because you have rent under control, you may be over-extended due to troubles understanding spending patterns and your credit card interest cycles. If this sounds more like you, you aren’t alone.
Debt Snowball Payment Method is Next Step
Time to get organized. Understand your total monthly debt commitments. The most responsible way to do this is to create an Excel Spreadsheet of your debts. Once you have a handle on all expenses, drop them into a Debt Calculator to make sure you have everything accounted for.
Determining a total monthly debt amount is the first piece to attacking this debt monster.
The Debt Snowball Payment method is on the way, after comparing your budget to your debt. Here is a short explanation of the Snowball Payment method, in case you skipped everything we so carefully wrote all the way up until now:
What to Expect in the Months Ahead
We covered ways to cut spending without the need for additional income in a recent blog, in case you are now armed with new insight but haven’t worked out how to make snowball payments possible.
Now that you have discovered Debt Snowball payments, you will start paying down your smallest debt amount first, which will lead to a small emergency fund cash flow. If you can refrain from spending this, you will eventually pay off one debt at a time, until you are debt-free, as illustrated in the top video with the glasses of water.
When you reach this stage, you should start looking more closely at your credit score. You may find that your score has increased, but there may still be line items on your record that can be disputed and removed.
For additional support, call Golden Financial Services today at (866)-376-9846 or info@goldenfs.org. You can check out our blog here, and do your research on our services here. Let’s talk soon!
